The overview
After a citywide mayoral race and five district-level council contests were held in the fall, Austin's other five council seats will be up for election next year, including:
- District 1, Central and Northeast Austin
- District 3, East and South Austin
- District 5, South Austin
- District 8, Southwest Austin
- District 9, Central Austin
Incumbent council members whose seats will be contested in 2026 raised tens of thousands of dollars through June, and have a combined total of more than $370,000 on hand well over a year before their next elections.
Aside from Harper-Madison, District 3 council member José Velásquez reported the lowest totals of the group with less than $1,000 raised and spent. Velásquez is currently unopposed and around $6,000 on hand.
Council member Ryan Alter doesn't yet have challengers for his District 5 seat. He raised almost $27,000 from dozens of donors through June and has nearly $110,000 available for a re-election bid.
In District 8, council member Paige Ellis is seeking a third term at City Hall and has drawn one opponent so far: medic and former Austin EMS Association President Selena Xie. Under Austin's term limits, Ellis must petition her constituents to allow her to run again and secure signatures from at least 5% of eligible District 8 voters.
Both candidates began receiving donations later in the spring, and each drew more than 200 individual contributions. Ellis led all political contributions this year, outraising Xie by nearly $20,000, and had a cash on hand advantage as of late June with more than $71,000 available to Xie's nearly $59,000 reported.
Ellis said about one-fourth of her donations came specifically from Southwest Austin-area residents while noting less than 15% came from out of town.
"I am honored by the strong show of early support and that a substantial support of contributions are directly from District 8 voters," she said in a statement. "Together we’ve made a lot of progress, and there’s still more to do."
Xie thanked donors for their backing so far, which included contributions from dozens of city medical workers.
“I’m very grateful to have received the financial support of a broad range of community leaders,” she said in a statement. "Their quick and strong support is not only very meaningful to me personally but indicative of a desire for a fresh face in District 8. And it was even more special to see so many fellow paramedics donate $19.11 each to show their support.”
District 9's incumbent council member Zo Qadri is heavily outpacing his lone challenger so far. Attorney Ard Ardalan, who formally announced his candidacy just after the latest financial period ended, didn't report political fundraising or available money, and spent less than $200. Qadri has been fundraising all year and drew more than $37,000 from hundreds of donors. He now maintains more than $184,000, the city's highest total heading into July.
Sitting council members
Most officials who won their seats last fall—Mayor Kirk Watson and council members Vanessa Fuentes, Chito Vela, Krista Laine and Mike Siegel—didn't report much financial activity so far this year, with only Laine and Siegel drawing any donations. Fuentes leads that group with nearly $53,000 still on hand, while the others each had less than $10,000 available at the end of June.
On the other hand, District 10 council member Marc Duchen has been fundraising through 2025 and collected more than $40,000 from almost 150 donors. He now has almost $43,000 on hand after spending most of his funds from last year's campaign in the West Austin district.
Also of note
Candidates who were defeated in 2024 elections didn't report much activity in 2025 so far, with just $500 collected between six previous mayoral and council contenders. Only former council member Mackenzie Kelly, who lost her District 6 re-election bid to Laine, reported a significant cash on hand total with more than $13,000 still available.
Several political action committees also drew tens of thousands of dollars through the first half of 2025. One, the Austin United PAC—which supported candidate Gary Bledsoe in last fall's District 7 contest—is now backing an ongoing petition drive seeking to halt the $1.6 billion redevelopment of the Austin Convention Center pending a public vote. The petition also calls to reallocate city hotel tax revenue supporting that project to other arts and cultural uses.
Austin United raised more than $33,000 so far this year including more than $19,000 from 21 sources, led by a $7,000 contribution from the Save Our Springs Alliance and two individual $5,000 donations. Nearly $14,000 of the PAC's total raised was reported as in-kind contributions by Save Our Springs and its executive director, Bill Bunch, related to the petition drive.
